What is tertiary recycling?

Answers

Tertiary recycling entails the chemical breakdown of materials which are then re-utilized further back in the feedstock chain. It is distinct from primary recycling (taking the recycled material and putting it back into the same product), secondary recycling (using reclaimed post consumer materials as a source of material for new products), and quaternary recycling (often termed “energy from waste”).

Tertiary recycling is rapidly emerging as an economical method for reclaiming valuable materials from a variety of polymer-based that would otherwise be landfilled. The term “tertiary recycling” has been adopted from the American Plastics Council; by definition it is the processing of plastics back to valuable chemicals or fuels for reuse. In the “tertiary recycling process”, polymeric waste is converted into reusable hydrocarbon fractions for reincarnation as polymers, monomers, fuels, or chemicals, automatically separating the valuable materials (e.g., metals, fiberglass, and ceramics) with little manpower.